April 23, 1960
From Romulus -
Leo Flynn Winds Up Half Century of Railroading
By JOE TRAINOR
ROMULUS - The Morse code letters “OM,” which called Leo J. Flynn to the telegraph key for thousands of times at his post as station agent at Romulus are now just a memory. For, with nearly a half century of railroading behind him, Mr. Flynn has retired from employment with the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company.
Mr. Flynn, son of James and Catherine Fitzsimons Flynn, is a native of the town of Romulus. For many years, his father operated a farm from a short distance south of this village on the Romulus-Ovid road. Agriculture, with its then more laborious methods of operation, never held a strong appeal for the son. As a student in the Ovid High School, he intimated that he would line to become a railway station agent. Guidance counselors as such were practically unknown but one of his teachers, who had taken much interest in the lad, lent encouragement to the idea.
At the end of his school career, he made application to Dewitt C. Case, then the Romulus station agent, and on August 7, 1911, he began his apprenticeship as a student operator here. The youth rode a bicycle or walked to the station from the family home, a distance of one and one-half miles. Later he acquired a motorcycle and eventually a car as a mode of transportation, During severe snowstorms, his father brought him to his employment in a horse-drawn cutter.
At first, the dots and dashes of the telegraph receiver were highly confusing to the young man and he often wondered whether he was capable of mastering them. However, on September 25 of the following year, Mr. Flynn had “graduated” from his course of study and was placed on the company payroll at a $48 monthly salary as clerk-telegrapher.
His daily stint began at 2 p.m. and the “trick” was listed to end westbound passenger local at 9:25 p.m. However, that train’s schedule was unpredictable and as Romulus was the meeting place for an eastbound through train No. 12, it was absolutely essential that the station be kept open. As a result, Mr. Flynn frequently left the station at midnight or later. In those days, the matter of extra payment for overtime service was unheard of.
In 1919, station agents and operators obtained the legal right to organize and the “Order of railway Telegraphers” union came into being. The movement abolished the ten and twelve hour daily service for six and seven hours per week without added remuneration beyond the stated monthly salary. An additional benefit to the workers was the recognition of seniority rights. In 1928, Mr. Flynn was in 78th position on the company’s roster. When he retired, he was No. 5 on the list.
In the early part of his career, automatic signals, governing the movement of trains on the Ithaca branch of the Lehigh Valley were unknown. As a result, crews of trains were given clearance merely from one station to another. For instance, the local operator would call “AL” Hayts Corners, or “WF,” MacDougall, on his telegraph key to determine whether the intervening spaces of track were occupied.
On receipt of an affirmative answer, he would push the manual lever in the station changing the outside “red” signal semaphore board to a clear position. As an added safeguard, a section maintenance man would “walk track” every morning between local stations to detect any obstructions, loose rail plate bolts, broken rails and the line.
In the summer of 1914, the automatic electron signals were installed to lessen the responsibility of station agents and operators in the safety of train movements. Mr. Flynn recalled that, on the first Sunday of their operation, the area was visited by a severe electrical storm. The “bugs” for perfect operation of the system had not yet ceased to crawl and, as a result, the lightning put most of the signals out of order. All signal boards were automatically set at at danger and each train had to be halted at every signal before passing it.
On April 1, 1918, Mr. Flynn was given complete charge of the Romulus station. In the meantime, he had assisted the following agents, in addition to Mr. Case, P. J. Payne, E. G. Cook, Edward S. Williams, and Raymond Joslyn. Ten years later, to a day, he was transferred by being “bumped” out of the position by another agent with more seniority rights to the Gilbert agency. This post handled all the railroad business for Willard State Hospital.
In 1929, he went to Kendaia where he remained for more than seven years. His next post was Lodi where he spent six months. Flynn’s longest tour of today in his employment was at MacDougall, where he served from April 1937 to November 1954. Following the death of James B. Lyman, Romulus agent, in that year, he returned to the place of his instruction to remain until the station was closed on June 3, 1959. Leaving here, he went to Hayes Corners for his final stand of employment ending Feb. 1 of this year. During his last two weeks of duty, the company was allowed to provide only half-day service at Hayts Corners and Interlaken, and Mr. Flynn traveled from one station to the other for that period.
Mr. Flynn has observed many changes during his lengthy service. The United States Express Company was taken over by American Railway Express Company which in turn became the present Railway Express Company. Express business at Romulus, discontinued about two years ago, is now handled by truck from the Geneva office. At one time, sixteen trains passed through Romulus daily, six locals, two local and two pick-up freights, fruit train during the seasons and five through trains.
Local service by Western Union was discontinued in 1951. The last local passenger service known as the “Toonerville,” Diesel operated, ceased on Nov. 1, 1949. The only train, which local residents see in the daytime hours, is an eastbound freight which passes through the area at approximately 11 a.m.
Mr. Flynn recalls the many residents of Geneva, with whom he had contact in an official capacity, such as passenger conductors James Hillick, John O’Connor, Charles Baldwin, John O’Loughlin, John Woodward; freight conductors, Frank Taggart. Glen (Dad) Queer, and Charles Jordan and Engineers Jack Schott, George Edward Covert, Charles Covert and Charles Conkling.
Commenting on Mr. Flynn’s service, J. E. Crowley, Lehigh Valley superintendent, said in a letter to the retiring employee: “Please accept my congratulations on having completed over 47 years of service with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and retiring with a perfectly clear record. You not only have an outstanding length of service with the company but your record, having no marks against it during the entire 47 years is in itself worthy of recognition. I wish to express to you in this manner my wishes for many happy years of retirement and to give you the recognition which your record deserved.”
Like his father, Leo Flynn has been a lifelong Democrat an served as town committeeman for many terms. For several years he was a member and president of the Board of Education of the Romulus Central School District. He is a trustee of the Sacred Heart Church.
Mrs. Flynn was the former Miss Lucy O’Marra. The couple have one daughter, Jane Catherine, wife of Kenneth Rosemergy, of Rochester, relay inspector in the General Railway Signal Company, and a one-year-old granddaughter, Ann Marie Rosemergy.
Mr. and Mrs. Flynn have traveled quite extensively through the midwest and south during their vacations. Now, with the discontinuance of so many passenger trains on area railroads, Mr. Flynn states thatches railroad pass will be of but little use to him. He intends to limit his travel pretty much to that of his car in visiting his daughter and family in Rochester and doing family shopping.
As for future plans, Mr. Flynn has not given much thought to the matter. For the present, he merely seeks relaxation from the duties which had occupied forty-seven years of his life. He possesses more than average ability in plumbing and electrical skills and takes care of his own household repairs.
